For a kids’ party with outdoor games, including archery, I carried the theme into the cupcakes. I kept it outdoorsy using the grass tip for the background (which I also found kind of fun and hypnotic to work with).

I wanted to try something other than buttercream for the bows and arrows, so I opted to free-hand draw a bunch of targets, bows and arrows as royal icing runouts that could harden on the waxed paper before being lifted and added to the cupcakes. I did learn one valuable lesson: if you add water to thin the icing so it floods better, you also need to allow for a bit more drying time, or your design won’t be solid enough to lift off the paper in time. I’m willing to bet this was more immediately obvious to a lot of you.